"The goal is to try to make fares about 50 percent of what they would be to a similar market on a major airline," he said.

The airline flies Airbus 319 planes, which seat about 150 passengers. It is a budget operation, so there is no drink service. The first two checked bags cost $5 apiece, and Skybus charges $50 for each additional bag per trip segment.

Skybus is expanding into Milwaukee this year even as it plans to eliminate routes to the Seattle and San Diego markets early next year. That still leaves 15 regions with Skybus service, including New York, Boston, San Francisco and L.A. Most of the airline's flights stop in Columbus, Skybus' hub city.

RedEye crunched the numbers on skybus.com this week and found that a round-trip ticket from Milwaukee to Columbus in December could cost as little as $80, including taxes, fees and two checked bags.

Daily flights between Milwaukee (the closest Skybus hub to Chicago) and Columbus begin in December, and the airline expects to attract travelers from northern Illinois with its low fares, Tenenbaum said.

If Skybus is planning on expanding into the Chicago market, though, it won't be soon. "We're basically looking to fill the niche of nonstop service that doesn't exist now," Tenenbaum said.

With two major airports, Chicago does not offer many new opportunities.

If Skybus doesn't work for you, there's always Megabus. The Chicago-based bus operator offers daily road trips to a dozen Midwest cities, including Minneapolis, Ann Arbor and St. Louis.

Megabus sells three to four seats on each trip for $1, then raises fares according to demand. A savvy rider could catch a round-trip lift to a city such as Detroit for $2.50, including a 50-cent reservation fee.

And if demand is low enough, tickets can cost as little as $10 to $15 even a week before departure.

"It's an easy way to get from city to city in about the same amount of time it would take you to drive," Megabus president Dale Moser said.

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OHIO OR BUST

Skybus: $80 Megabus: $16.50

RedEye checked out the cost of a round-trip ticket to Columbus on megabus.com using the same dates as Skybus' best December fare.